New regular posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, extra ‘news flashes’!

Sunday October 11th 2015

Adopted Niece stays over the weekend. Isis recognises her smell immediately, of course, and gives her a faint wag: for Isis this constitutes a very positive greeting.

Adopted Niece is not impressed with Hairy One’s sudden bursts of barking ‘for no reason’ or her table manners, especially her habit of putting her feet in her dinner when she bounces back down from the wall.

“But bless her”, she adds, “she did very well yesterday when there was meat on the table. She didn’t bother at all. And she tolerated the light because she wanted to be with us in the evening.”

She did.

From Isis’s point of view, she never barks for no reason. She barks when she smells someone passing the house or when the light changes. Unfortunately, both of these are rather frequent today.

Isis does behave surprisingly well now when I am eating. And she never begs. True, if I leave food at her nose level, she does a  bit of self-service but she no longer sits beside me waiting to snatch food from my plate. So big improvement there.

I have to agree with Adopted Niece when it comes to feeding time. Although Isis continues to wait patiently for her food to be prepared and sits beside me without prompting waiting for me to sign to her that she can eat it, the commotion she makes when eating shows no sign of abating. Adopted Niece says Isis ‘inhales’ her food!  This is not far from the truth. It does sound as though a good part of it might be going into her lungs rather than down her throat.  As she chokes and splutters with each mouthful, she works herself up into such a state of aggression that she invariably has a rage spin as soon as her bowl is empty despite the follow-up handful of meal left out for her.

Tonight I decide that enough is enough. I put her meal into her stand as usual but each time she barks with her mouth full, I remove the dish. She is, of course, furious. Ignoring her vociferous protests, I stand with her bowl in the porch until she stops carrying on. Then I return with the food and off we go again. I spend four sessions in the porch tonight. One feels somewhat self-conscious standing, dog food stand in hand, counting up to a hundred in full view of passers-by, but needs must, I tell myself.

Fence report: Isis has spent most of every day this week playing in the garden and, so far, has not attempted to climb over the fence.

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk